It’s Not Fair Casually to Call People Racist: Remember Judge Charles Pickering?

National Review ^ | June 02nd 2009

[Steelfish]

June 2, 2009

It’s Not Fair Casually to Call People Racist Remember Judge Charles Pickering?

By Mona Charen

The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has already achieved a boon for our political culture: It has helped leading liberals and Democrats to discover that being tarred as a racist on flimsy grounds is unfair and deeply unpleasant.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.) for example, when asked on Face the Nation to respond to Rush Limbaugh’s and Newt Gingrich’s comments about Sotomayor, said, “That’s an absolutely terrible thing to throw around. Based on that statement — that one word ‘better than’ [sic] — to call someone a racist is just terrible and I would hope that Republicans would not do this.”

Senator Feinstein was right as far she went. She avoided one undeniable fact, though. If a white-male nominee had been discovered to have said something similar — that he was better situated to judge due to his background and life experiences than a Latina woman was — he would be cashiered so fast as to induce whiplash.

Those are the unwritten rules that Limbaugh and Gingrich are attempting, one suspects, to expose for their one-sidedness. Nevertheless, the instant labeling of the woman, based on one unwise remark, is hardly fair. If Democrats are learning this now, that’s excellent news.

One hopes they will remember this discovery when the wheel turns and a Republican nominee is before the Senate. Certainly they didn’t seem to get it as recently as 2002, when President Bush nominated Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

[mrsmel]

Get over yourself Moanin’ Mona, it’s hardly “unfair” when the woman actually said the thing that is blatant bald-faced racism.

[exist]

The firefighter case, the wise Latina comment, and member of La Raza.

Racist.

[wolfpat]

...the woman actually said the thing that is blatant bald-faced racism.

She might have been able to get away with saying she misspoke or that she didn't choose her words as carefully as she should. BUT she's a board member for La Raza. As I understand it, this is equivalent to being a Kleagle in the Klan.

[TexasGreg]

Don’t hold your breath ... the Democrats don’t see it as wrong to label white males as being Racist for ANY reason (and, mostly, just for being Republicans). It’s the labeling of a Latina woman as a racist that cheeses them off and which the protest. For them it may be good for the gander, but it will NEVER be viewed as being good for the goose.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..If a white-male nominee had been discovered to have said something similar — that he was better situated to judge due to his background and life experiences than a Latina woman was — he would be cashiered so fast as to induce whiplash..."

Sigh! We know, We know, We know, We know!

69,456,897

[Red Dog #1]

To this day I’m continually amazed at the number of so called intellectuals that can’t recognize Rush’s comments parodies of their inconsistencies.

[livius]

Did you read the article?

[DBrow]

The unfair she’s pointing out is the extreme bias of the left and the press.

Pickering got borked for not even coming close to racism, though that’s what kerry et al said.

Sotomayor is being given a pass for blatant racism/sexism.

[Teacher317]

To quote Senator Obama from 2005(?),

How are the videotaped outlandish statements made by Justice Sotomayor any different?

[Teacher317]

To quote Senator Obama from 2005,
"Just as it would be cynical and offensive that Justice Brown be vilified simply for being a Black conservative, it is equally offensive and cynical to suggest that somehow she should get a pass for her outlandish views simply because she is a Black woman."

How are the videotaped outlandish statements made by Justice Sotomayor any different?

[theDentist]

You know Mona, it’s like the War: The enemy wins when you stick by the rules that constrain you. Conservatives tend to try and stick to the facts. We often back up what we say. Liberals just fling it out there and let it stick. Tere is truth backing up these accusations of racism (including being in La Raza, a mexican version of the Klan). She brought it on herself.

[Interesting Times]

It isn’t just one comment. What about Sotomeyer’s membership in La Raza?

[rockrr]

“Nevertheless, the instant labeling of the woman, based on one unwise remark, is hardly fair.”

If it were only so Mona, but it isn’t (and you know it). Try a little honesty next time - it only hurts at first...

[mrsmel]

I skimmed it in between doing housework, apparently I missed the point. It happens, when I comment before having time to read thoroughly.

[rightly_dividing]

The race card is the personal property of the Dems,to be used at their discretion and not to be used by anyone else: note how they used it on each other in the Dem primaries in 08 Not since the Sixties has the R word been used so heavily. When the Dems are backed into a corner, with nothing else to counter with, they play the card.

Pray for our nation

[A. Patriot]

But Pickering was from Mississippi. All white males from Mississippi are racist dontcha know. /sarcasm

[reagan_fanatic]

None of this would matter if the left wasn’t so damn quick to use race to further its agenda. People like Mona just don’t get it - Whites are fed up with the racism label being flung in their faces everytime they turn around, and it stings when the left’s own racism goes unchallenged.

[jimfree]

Pickering was lied about. We are talking about the woman’s record.

[Tzimisce]

The left isn’t going to stop calling people racist just because you ask them nicely not too.